Marine Le Pen minimum wage increase, Digi Mart USA News (Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, France): Rassemblement National presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said Thursday that she refuses to impose wage increases on companies in an authoritarian manner, arguing that doing so would amount to “changing regime” and “entering the USSR.”
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Euronaval trade show in Villepinte, Le Pen rejected a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage (SMIC), a demand backed by the CGT labor union. She said companies “cannot face it,” and warned that the result would be a wave of layoffs.
Le Pen said she would support incentives for companies that raise wages by 10 percent, such as exempting them from related social charges. She added that employers could be persuaded that such increases are necessary and that they should pay attention to their employees, but that this should not be done coercively.
Edouard Philippe, candidate of the Horizons party, also opposed a minimum wage increase. He said better work organization and additional working time would be a better solution than state decisions requiring payments that companies do not have, and that such discussions should mainly take place between social partners.
Bruno Retailleau, candidate of Les Républicains, also described a minimum wage increase as “a bad path,” saying there was no need to hasten business bankruptcies.
